SUPER! Dungeon Explore - Review, Part: the 2nd

Again let me apologize for how sub-par the pics are, they are from the same batch the last time a played, anyway onto the review-part the 2nd! Last time I mostly talked about how awesome the models are. This time I want to go over some of the game play, and components for the game.

The whole purpose of this game, much like many video games of yesteryear, is to kill the end boss. Pretty straight forward, and would seem repetitive but honestly how many hours have you logged on Zelda, or Gauntlet, and don't let me even start on Final Fantasy Tactics... (I still have the same file I have been working on for years! my main dood is like a master of half the job classes...) which all in all are all pretty repetitive games.

Berserker Babe and Dwarf Fighter

For Super Dungeon the replay-ability comes i the form of the heroes and the power-ups. Without further expansion the Consul has a limited amount of variety. In the rules it says choose a dungeon boss, well there is only one dungeon boss! So clearly they had expansions in mind when they were writing the main rule book, but at this point the consul is basically on auto pilot.

Hex-Sorceress, Man-form of Druid, and a Armored baddy

The heroes on the other hand have 9 race/classes to choice from, and 10 if you jumped on the limited edition Candy and Cola mini like I did. Each one has a few stats and a heart and potion maximum. Hearts are health (go figure) and potions are a unique power each hero gets that has a whole range of effects depending on which character fired up their magic brew. Each character's stats and powers and all of their special rules are included on their game card.

Ok here is one of my gripes about the game: the cards are not made of the best materials, don't get me wrong I have heard other people bash the quality of these components (cards especially) and they aren't complete garbage but their importance to the game and the fact that many od the rules are not found anywhere outside the cards is a mistake IMHO. Once Soda Pop gets their website up and running maybe there could be downloads of the cards, but as of now half the rules to play the game are contained on cards that are of medicore quality.

Hero card

All of the random elements of the game are determined by stats ad color coded dice. No math, no charts, if your character has a two blue dice icon then you simply roll those dice against your opponents' roll and whomever gets more stars (pips) wins the roll off. There are blue, red, and green. Blues are the weakest but also have hearts, where reds are better but have potions, and green is the bestest best and has a heart and potion face. if you roll a heart then you get heal a heart on a hero, if you roll a potion a hero gets a potion... the consul treats hearts and potions as blanks though, he gets no potions or hearts :(

Anyway back to the gameplay. The heroes come out of a 'start' button they place near an entrance and the consul gets spawning points a la Gauntlet where he can pump out his minions from. Depending on the size of game the heroes get more and the monsters get more points to spawn, as well as there being more boards to expand the size of the dungeon. In fat the game seems to scale based on a formula: 1 board tile = 1 hero = 1 spawning point. an 8-bit game is two board tiles, 2 heroes and two spawn pints, a 16-bit game is 3,3 and 3. So the balance is nice and the differences between the heroes leads to alot of variety, and as expansions come out (hopefully!) the Consul should be able to mix up his forces enough to really keep the game fresh.

two different spawn points that come with the game

In closing, the game as a whole rocks, it is super fun-super explore! and the components are generally great... except the cards, they are not completely effed, but they are definitely not Fantasy Flight grade cards. The boards for the game are great the rulebook, although somewhat confusing to read, is very nice and shiny and the minis are excellent so the fact that cards fell a little flat is totally forgivable but if you do drop $90 on this bad boy make sure to grab around 100 card sleeves while you're at the store becuase you will want them. I have never used them before but after two gaes I went out to get them. Geekily enough I bought blue and red backed sleeves for the treasure and loot cards and clear ones for the heroes and monsters.

Anyway I digress, but you should definitely check this game out for a fun hobby project and a game that plays easy enough for a young child or non-gamer could easily get into, but with enough strategy, models, and hobby content to keep the hardcore gamer interested as well. Overall this a Buddy favorite and I have already put it into my list of favorite games and really look forward to seeing where this goes and where Soda Pop minis goes as a company.

ps... based on how much I enjoyed the models and this game I went ahead and ordered a Relic Knight Mecha pin-up girl thing and will be posting about that as well soon... Man Soda Pop really got its anime-inspired claws unexpectedly right into me!